Sarkozy newborn named Giulia

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his ex-supermodel wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy have named their newborn baby girl Giulia, The announcement was made on Bruni-Sarkozy’s website on Thursday. 

Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes

"I am very touched by the number of congratulatory messages that I have received since the birth of our little girl Giulia," Bruni-Sarkozy wrote on carlabrunisarkozy.org.

Bruni, a 43-year-old Italian-born heiress turned supermodel turned singer, was famous even before she married Sarkozy in early 2008 after a whirlwind romance, and the birth made headlines around the world.

The first couple had decided not to officially announce the arrival of Giulia, but the president reacted warmly when factory workers gave him gifts during a visit on Thursday.

In less than five years, Sarkozy has become the first president of France's modern Fifth Republic to divorce while in the Elysee, the first to remarry and now the first to have a child.

In 2007 when his relationship broke down with his second wife Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz
and he quickly took up with the glamorous Carla, voters were turned off by the very public display of his romantic adventures.

Despite the new arrival, Sarkozy continues to have a full political schedule, battling to rescue the economy and his own hopes of re-election.

With seven months to go, Thursday's latest BVA opinion poll predicted his political career will be buried in a Socialist landslide, with opponent Francois Hollande beating him by 64 to 36 percent in a second-round run-off.